© Sunrisepainter: Because of Snape

Torn Apart

"Goodbye and keep your tail up!" Hermione gave her new friend squeeze.

"Yeah, I'll try." Hope smiled and awkwardly wiped some tears away. The two girls were still platform of King's Cross in the middle of a thousand other students wishing each other nice Holidays.

"See you, Hope." Harry strongly shook her hand. He, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny were picked up by a group of different magicians who all looked quite interesting. However, Hope was too preoccupied by her own problems as to ask about it.

"Yeah, see you, Harry. Have a nice Christmas." Hope smiled.

"Hope, don't do anything rash like throwing firecrackers at people!" George laughed and also shook hands with the blonde Gryffindor. Alicia and Angelina hugged her friend, too. It was nice to have someone to say goodbye to while hoping to see them again after the Holidays. Hope could not stop beaming with joy. She was touched and little sad at the same time. Now, Fred was the only one left to see her off.

"I can only advice you the same as my brother did." The twin grinned from ear to ear.

Then, he bend down to her while softly squeezing her hand:

"You can always count on us if you're in some trouble or if you meet Malfoy by chance."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." She winked at him.

"Hope, there you are!" A male voice piped up.

Her father made his way over to her. Hope slightly shivered. It was the first time meeting after he left her. As she had been very young back then, she could not remember his face. Now, all the memories rushed back to her at once. He was handsome, she had to admit. Well, for a dad. He was very tall and lean. He had short brownish hair, grey-greenish eyes and a two-day-old beard. Next to him appeared a woman and Hope frowned. Obviously, this woman had to be Aglaja Young and beautiful. Black, silky long hair. Perfect features. Clear blue eyes. On the spot, Hope decided that she could never get along with her. When he stopped next to Fred, her dad beamed with joy.

"We were already looking for you. Nice to see you after all these years. We...oh!" He stopped talking when he noticed the boy being next to his daughter. His grin got even wider:
"Is this young man your boyfriend? I wasn't interrupting something, was I?"

"No! I mean...um...he's not..." Hope stuttered while her cheeks were burning like fire. Immediately, she let go of Fred's hand and tried to avoid his eyes.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Fred Weasley." He introduced himself. "You must be Hopes father Mr. Shycates, right?"

"Exactly!" The man laughed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Humphry Shycates and that's my girlfriend Aglaja McShadew. But Hope must've told you about us, right?" Mr. Shycates put his arm around his girlfriend and pulled her closer towards him. Fred glanced at Hope who was pretending to be observing a first grader greeting his mother under tears.

"Um...no. She didn't mention anything about you." Fred answered truthfully.

Mr. Shycated gave his daughter a confused glance:

"Does this mean you didn't tell your boyfriend about your family circumstances at all?"

Hope was getting more and more annoyed:

"I didn't. Why should I? First of all, he's not my boyfriend! And secondly, I'm shouldn't bother my friends with my problems. Lastly, I don't even care about you and your life at all!" Hope hissed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go now. I have enough about you making me a scene here. Goodbye, Fred. I'll see you again after Christmas." Having said that, she took her luggage trolley and left with her head held high.

"Don't mind her hash words, she's always like this." Fred laughed as he saw the confused faces of Humphry and Aglaja.

"She's coming after her mother, I guess. Didn't you always tell me that your former wife was very uptight and stubborn, too?" Aglaja said superciliously

Fred eyed her critically. She really looked conceited and selfish. He was sure that Hope would clash with her new "stepmother" a lot. Hope was not the kind of person letting herself get patronized by others. Additionally, he got the impression that his friend could not stand this Aglaja- somewhat fro the beginning.

"Fred, are you coming now?" The nagging voice of his mother brought him back to reality. After taking another worried glance at his blond classmate and her new "family". Hope hastened her steps as soon as she realized that her dad and his new flame were following her. Fred sighed.

"What gives you the right to cause such a scene in front of everyone!" Aglaja scolded Hope as soon as they were alone outside the station. Hope did not answer but just faced the other direction.

"You have no reason to be upset with us, young lady!"

"And you have know reason to lesson me!" Hope answered insolently. Aglaja indignantly gasped for air.

"Aglaja is right, Hope. Apologize to her right now!" Mr. Shycates demanded.

"Pshaw! As if!"

"YOU DO WHAT I ASK OF YOU!" Her father raised his voice.

Hope shrieked and looked at her dad in surprise. Hrumphry Shycates seemed not to be an easy man to deal with.

"Sorry..." Hope mumbled. Aglaja just huffed.

"And now let's go home." Mr. Shycates said calmly. In silence, Hope and his girlfriend followed him. Now, Hope was convinced that the Holiday would be even worse than she imagined.

Mr. Shycates opened the car boot of a red VW Polo CL, placed Hopes luggage in it and the cage with her cat on the back seat of the car. Hope silently sat down next to the cage crossing her arms in defence while Aglaja opened the door of the passenger's seat.

Of course, the VW was not a usual muggle car at all but a car powered by magic*. So, it could fly, too. Hope knew these kind of cars but she had never driven one before. She would have never admitted it but she was quite impressed when they suddenly drifted through the air of the dark London sky. The flight was silent and unproblematic. From time to time, her father tried to start a conversation with her but she would not answer him. Instead, she just looked outside the window with her lips tightly pressed together. There was nothing interesting to see, thought. There were just a lot of clouds and some birds now and then.

"We've almost reached our final destination. Our house is in Kent, or to be more precise, in Broadstairs. I think you've heard of it, didn't you? It's quite pretty. The town is situated at the seaside. From our manor, you have great a view on the shore." Her father swarmed.

"Manor!" Hope thought scornfully. "They must own a very big dungeon in Gringotts!"

The car finally landed between some trees of a small forest.

"We have to be careful not to be seen by any muggles, you know." Her father explained.

Braodstairs was one of these usual English towns located near the sea. The houses were simple and very similar to each other. Occasionally, they passed by another car or a pedestrian but most of the streets looked deserted. They left the main street and turned into a dark alley way. The car shook a lot because of the cobble.

"I can't get used to this damn street at all!" Aglaja cursed. "It makes me seasick!"

Hope just rolled her eyes. Her father must have watched his daughter in the review mirror as he frowned at her.

Eventually, they stopped in front of an iron gate. It opened by itself and Mr. Shycates parked his car in the middle of the courtyard. For the next five minutes Hope was speechless.

Her father did not exaggerate at all. The house was huge. The front of the manor was white and broad stairs lead to the great oak portal which could have fit two cars at once. The manor was lined by a lush garden. Poplars, a small oak tree, rhododendrons, lilies and roses, of course. Every plant which was usually associated with a traditional English garden.

"And that's your room." Humphry Shycates put his daughter's luggage down to the parquet floor and smirked. "Are you pleased with what you've seen so far, Madame?"

"Well, it's okay." Hope just shrugged her shoulders.

In fact, that was a lie. She thought her room was breathtaking. Although it was winter, the sun shone trough the great windows and made the yellow wallpaper even brighter. It gave her a warm feeling. The room itself was quite big. There was an antique commode and a vase with orange flowers on a study desk. There was also a wardrobe which looked very fancy. However, the highlight of the room was definitely the king sized bed which was placed in the middle of the room. It had a baladaquin made from blue velvet. Very comfortable.

"Well.I let the lady have some time for herself now, adieu!" Her father said and left the room giggling like a goofy child.

"Finally alone." Hope though relieved.

Her father and his new flame were much worse than she had predicted. Aglaja was just too conceited and her father seemed to be always mocking Hope.

Sighing, Hope went over to the biggest window and pushed it open. The view was really great. She could see some beautiful areas of the garden, the dunes and even the sea. She could not only see it but she also smelt the fresh salty air and heard the steady rushing. She closed her eyes felling finally a little calmer inside. Maybe her Christmas would not get as bad as she dreaded. If she would avoid Aglaja and her father and spend most of her time in her room, it could get pretty tolerable.

Swiftly she closed the windows again because it was getting too cold inside the room. Then, she got a book from her bag, sat down on her bed and started to read for a little while.

End of Chapter Nineteen.